Dear all,

I’m writing today’s blog on VE Day. It’s a day when we remember the sacrifice that so many people made, so that our country could be free from tyranny and oppression. It feels strange that the freedoms that so many of us take for granted are now under such pressures.

Many of you will have seen in the media that there is a strong likelihood that an announcement will be made (either on Sunday or more likely Monday) about the partial re-opening of schools. At this point in time I don’t have any more details.

What I think is going to be crucial, as we move through the next stage of the pandemic, is that we ensure all our stakeholders have much more of an active part in the decision making process.

When our schools and Horizons made decisions in mid March, we were constrained by both lack of time and scarcity of information.

I am going to ensure that as we plan for the next few months, all of you (alongside our colleagues in the LA, council and health authority) are able to better understand why decisions are being made so that we can adhere to our overriding principle – to keep all of our young people and staff safe.

It’s with this in mind that early next week I’m going to share with you all our draft “return to sites” risk assessments. We want your views. We want to take all of your views into consideration. We want you to help guide our work. Obviously we won’t be able to agree with everyone, but you’ll be in a position to help frame our re-opening strategy. Which children can continue with virtual learning, who needs shielding, who needs to be back on site, can we go to part time sessions etc. etc. – we need your views to help form our strategy.

I’m really hoping that the same will apply to Horizons.

So if, as we expect, we get guidance in the next few days, I’ll email or use Parentpay to contact you with details of how you’ll be able to contribute.

Let’s ensure that, together, we make the next steps as safe as we possibly can?

Have a great weekend.

Stay safe,

Graham

You can find all Graham’s previous updates and blog entries here